EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

Child Helpline 129 Introduced in Indonesia

Jipy Pricilia

Indonesian children will soon have access to someone to talk to whenever they experience problems or abuse. Just by dialing 129 toll-free, children can get necessary help. Child Helpline 129 will also benefit parents and teacher. Child Helpline 129 is a call-help system accessible by for children whenever they need help or someone to talk to. Child rights and child protection are as the key principle for Child Helpline for providing assistance in emergency situation. It also gives children an opportunity to express their concerns and talk about issues affecting them. According to international statistics 15% of the calls made by children to Helplines throughout the world were school and peer related, while others were sexuality, abuse and health issues and a host of other issues that affects a child’s learning.

Child Helpline 129 will collaborate with various government or and non-government organisations which provides social and education services. These institutions can be included in the referral system of the child helpline through which children with particular problems may be assisted.

On 19th January 2006 a national workshop on Child Helpline 129 was initiated by ( the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Women Empowerment) and Plan International. Attending the workshop were representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, UN agencies, international partners and INGOs (Braillo Norway, IDP Norway,
World Vision, Save the Children), local NGOs (SPMAA, Kalam Pratista, etc), the Indonesian Police, hospitals and universities. Participants came from Jakarta, Bogor, Surabaya, Makassar and Banda Aceh.

Child Helpline 129 will be piloted in four big cities (Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar and Banda Aceh). During the workshop the participants made action plans to launch Child Helpline 129 in July 2006 in their respective cities. The action plans include: need assessment, resource mapping, organisational structure, training for operators in call centres, dissemination and advocacy initiatives, installation of helpline system, and commitment building among stakeholders.

If you would like to know more about Plan and the Child Helpline initiative please contact: jipy.pricilia@plan-international.org

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents